Principal’s News

ted to familiesDear Parents and Carers,

With December fast approaching, we are busily preparing for the end of the academic year.  Reports are being proofread in preparation for distribution to families on Monday 16 December.  Preparations for graduation have been finalised.  I have booked a Mystery Tour for the Year Sixes to celebrate the seven years of their primary education.  We have our final assembly booked for Wednesday, 11 December, with visits from our Federal and State Members of Parliament, Aaron Violi and Cindy McLeish.

You will see a huge skip near the driveway, arriving on Tuesday 3 December.  We are taking the opportunity to have a big clear out of all of the un-needed items cluttering up our offices and storage spaces around the school.  If we identify any items that may be of use to someone else, we will let families know.  These will be freely available on a first come, first served basis. 

Buildings and Facilities Master Plan

Following extensive consultation with St Joseph's Staff and Students, the architects from Sibling have come up with some concept and architectural drawings reflective of the input they received.  The next step is to share this with the School Advisory Council, Parish Advisory Council and wider school community.  Following this, Sibling will be seeking feedback from Parents, Carers and Parishioners to gather further thoughts on how the plans can be enhanced to improve the learning environment for the students.

Above are some of the concept drawings Sibling have done for us.  I hope you are as inspired as we are and that you will take the opportunity to attend the upcoming online meeting where Sibling share their ideas with the community.  You will be notified of the date as soon as it is finalised.  If you are unable to attend on the night, we will make a recording of this event available for you to view later.  Feedback from the St Joseph's Community is warmly welcomed.

Introduction to N-Forma

N-Forma is a Web Based Portal that has been in use at St Joseph's for well over a decade.  It is currently being used for generating school reports and tracking student attendance.

The capabilities of this program have recently been upgraded, and in 2025, it will replace many other apps we are currently using, including Operoo and School Interviews.    

N-Forma will allow for direct messaging to parents, reporting first aid incidents, tracking student learning progress and any wellbeing concerns. It will also allow parents to keep up to date with all school events and notices, to respond to online forms and surveys, report student absences and book parent-teacher interviews.

As with any new initiative, we need to use a change management approach in order to ensure a smooth transition. There is no good in throwing all of this at Parents and Staff in one go. The first stage will involve parents downloading the N-Forma for Parents App to their smart-phones. Visit the Apple App Store or Google Play store.  This app will provide parents with access to the 2024 Academic Reports, and in time all previous reports dating back to their Foundation (Prep) Year.

School Structure 2025

Having consulted with the St Joseph's staff and having taken feedback from Parents and Carers, the following structure has been put in place for the 2025 academic year and the named staff will be teaching these classes:

Foundation - Mrs Rebecca Beveridge

One/Two - Ms Meredith Smith

Three - Ms Megan Urquhart and a new teacher (TBA)

Four/Five - Miss Lisa Bourke

Six - Mrs Simone Traynor

We look forward to Step Up Morning this Tuesday when the students will meet with their 2025 classroom teachers in their new class groups.  

School Advisory Council

The School Advisory Council met several weeks ago and the issue of Private Transport to Lilydale Station for Excursions was the main focus for discussion.  The Advisory Council members were very appreciative of the 30 families who responded to the survey sent to families last term.  This represented a little less than 50% of our families, which would be a good representation of our families views.Please see below the results of the main question on the survey.

Results:

• 22 of the 30 respondents were either Positive or Very Positive about using the train, if it meant an extra excursion for the children.
• There were 6 respondents who were either unhappy or very unhappy about transporting the children to the train station.
• We had two neutral responses

Recommendations from the council:

1.  practice of asking parents to transport children to continue but be limited to a maximum of one time per year for each class, out of respect to the families who responded in the negative
2. Excursions to be planned from the beginning of the year and to be communicated to families
3. Dates to be published at the beginning of the year, allowing parents to plan ahead, if required to transport students

The council also discussed the lack of understanding in the community about the difference between St Joseph's School Excursions (Compulsory) and activities offered by external groups such as the Upper Yarra Sports Association and Basketball Victoria (Non-Compulsory - opt in).

• Compulsory Excursions run by the school include all children in the class and are paid for through the Excursion Levy (transport provided)
• Non-compulsory (opt-in) activities are paid for by parents separately and private transport is required.

If you would like to find out more about the School Advisory Council, please get in touch with Katie or myself.  Applications for membership of this Council will be open again in Term One 2025.

Christmas Carols

Plans are well underway for our Christmas Carols, which are due to be held this Wednesday 4 December between 5:30pm and 7:00pm.  The children and their teachers have been rehearsing their carols and are really looking forward to performing them for their families.  We invite families to pack a basket supper with food and drinks (non-alcoholic) to be enjoyed throughout the night.  

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the weather forecast is for 25 degrees and no rain.  We are hopeful that this event will be able to be held on the oval.  You may wish to bring a waterproof rug or tarp to sit on in case the oval is a bit damp.  Rain is expected earlier in the week.

Best wishes for the week ahead.

Nick.

Nicholas Boyhan

Principal.